Sunday, April 27, 2008

"Check it out Simon-the-dog! If I put my foot up here it is more comfortable!""That's neat Lilah, how did you figure that out?""I watched Mommy. This is how she sits in the car when daddy is driving!""So thats where all the dirt on the dash comes from...."

Ugh, I hate this stage Lilah in. She continues to be a happy, healthy baby, and even though she just learned to crawl two weeks ago, she is now determined to stand and walk. Her several daily attempts usually ends with her bonking her head on something or falling over. I can't stand watching her fall, and when I don't get to her in time I worry about injuries.

This past weekend, the whole fam-dam was outside gardening. I had a close eye on Lilah, who was hanging out on her rug in the grass, and the next thing I know she on our concrete sidewalk, bawling, and BLEEDING. I think my heart stopped.

Nothing was broken, thank god, but she does have a hefty fat lip for a baby. She must've bonked her face on the concrete somehow for whatever reason. It happened so fast. Just as quickly, Lilah was on to the next thing, but I felt like I could still cry about it all afternoon.

This baby can finally play with me! This last week when Heather wouldn't play with me, I dropped my ball just outside of the baby's reach. After a moment's hesitation, she leaned over and picked it up. Now I can stare endlessly at the ball while she plays with it! Sweet success! What FUN!! We both stay entertained for at least 15 minutes.

The Mommy-figure does get a little upset when the baby puts my toys in her mouth. I don't see what the big deal is -- I mean, I put my toys in my mouth so what's the problem?

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Here is a picture of our latest acquisition --- just in time for the trail riding season! I have been searching high and low for Riding School lesson horses. I found one that was blind, one that was pregnant (and the owner didn't know until my assistant pointed it out to her...), a couple that were generally lame, one that was super-psychotic, and a couple that had psychotic owners.

And then I found Clifford.

He is a SUPER quiet, 16'3 hand (that's TALL!) , 20 year-old Thoroughbred gelding. He is an ex-racehorse, but he is so unflappable I doubt he was very successful as a racer. Nick and I will take him out trail riding, and the rest of the time he will be working as an LOH school horse.

Life is full of ironies. For those of you that don't know, this is the second special "Cliff" in my life. The other Cliff is pictured below -- R.I.P. --- :)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

As you might already know, on April 16th Lilah crawled for the first time! I quickly pulled out the camera to document, but this is the best video of the crawling I ended up with. However, I did get to capture something else almost as exciting as crawling! It's at the very end of this video....

Now that Baby L has crawling figured out, she is moving about the house and is very estactic about her new trick. Cheers!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Over the weekend we journeyed to the Roundhouse. Lilah slept almost the entire way over! Unfortunately, Heather had a nasty sore throat/cold/fever, and we're hoping Lilah doesn't catch it. We spent our time laying around (even with a baby!!), walking in the woods, reading, and watching movies. It was snowing as we left, then we drove through a nasty rain/snow storm over the pass and through Detroit. We are planning on returning in six weeks with horses, so we're hoping for the summer weather to kick in soon!

Rocking out to Bob Marley....

This tennis ball Simon found about 10 minutes after our arrival. The funny thing is that Nick and I remember Simon losing a ball last summer in the vicinity where he found it. The ball was (as in past tense, it's already been lost again...) faded and obviously weathered, so we think it's the same ball! Maybe he is a smart dog after all?

Feeding Lilah dinner on the front porch!

BATH TIME!!

This is one of those pictures we'll look back and say, "Remember when??"

Nick LOVES waterfalls, so for his birthday we drove out to Gifford/Pinchot National Forest in Washington. Surprisling the drive only took about 40 minutes or so, and we were in the woods! We did a very quick hike down to these falls, then Nick went and checked out a second one while I fed Lilah. Can you spot Nick in this picture??

Our water-loving dog promptly took off the edge of the cliff overlooking the waterfall. This picture was taken before he realized he couldn't get back up. (He then panicked and clawed his way to the top...) Guess we never said he was a smart dog .... Wait a minute, maybe we did...

Birthday celebration later that night at Teresa's. Here are the Grammer Girls.